Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On 18th of the Islamic month of Jamadi as-Sani in 947 AH, a treaty was signed in Istanbul between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, ending the 3-year naval war between the two sides, with the Venetians paying three million gold liras as war damages to the Turks, in addition to ceding all islands in the Aegean Sea as well as key mainland holdings in the Peloponnese Peninsula. The war had started over a Venetian insult to Sultan Sulaiman, prompting the Ottoman navy, led by Khairoddin Pasha (Barbarossa or Redbeard to the Europeans), to raid Apulia in southern Italy.
In response, a combined fleet of 81 Venetian, 50 Spanish, and 36 papal ships of the Holy Roman Empire, launched an attack on the Ottoman fleet. Khairoddin Pasha retaliated with further raids up and down the coasts of the Aegean and Adriatic seas, capturing numerous Venetian-controlled islands and trading outposts, and staging a major raid on Crete. Next, with 120 warships he took on the might of the combined European fleet and inflicted a stunning defeat at Prevesa, forcing the allies to admit defeat and conclude a peace treaty.